In various parts of the country there were marches and protests against the new President of the United States, Donald Trump, who is considered a menace to Mexico, although the mobilizations had less participation than was expected.

How is Trump a “menace?” How is he preventing the Mexican government from handling its affairs?

That unexpected "less participation" is interesting: Mexicans may just be burned out on Trump bashing. After all, it’s been nonstop for nineteen months. Also, they may be more concerned about domestic issues, like the rise in gasoline prices (the gasolinazo). (Is there some way to blame Trump for that?)

Jorge Castaneda, the Open Borders fanatic and former Mexican Foreign Minister, termed Trump’s Inauguration D-Day and wrote: “It opens for the entire world a turbulent period, without direction, in which it seems that there will be nothing good, at least in the short and medium range. This is true for many countries, and maybe more for Mexico.” [El día D ("D-Day"), January 20, 2017].

Mexican intellectual Enrique Krause issued several tweets, including one which linked to the Mexican national anthem.

“Read carefully the lyrics of the Mexican National Anthem,” tweeted Krauze, “ It was written in 1854. It is just as relevant now as then.”

Prominent Mexican Leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known by the initials AMLO), who ran for president in 2006 and 2012 and who will most likely run for president of Mexico next year, also opined on Trump while in a border city. He warned he would not consent “to the regression in the foreign policy of that country and the vulgar menace to the human rights” of the Mexicans (AMLO propone plan de 10 puntos para enfrentar amenazas de Trump [“AMLO proposes a ten-point plan to confront the threats of Trump”], Excelsior, January 20, 2017).

AMLO is planning a 100-day tour of the U.S., beginning on February 12th, “to meet with the paisanos [referring to Mexicans in the U.S.]” including “Los Angeles…, Chicago, Phoebe x [Phoenix?], El Paso, New York, Laredo and San Francisco.”

A grand meddling tour. The Trump Administration should keep an eye on this.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto

In contrast, President Pena Nieto knows he’s going to have to deal with Trump, so he’s acting diplomatic.

An hour after Trump had taken the presidential oath, Mexico’s Excelsior paper reported the Mexican president “congratulated” Trump and stated through Twitter “both presidents would work to strengthen the relationship with shared responsibility” [Felicita Peña Nieto al nuevo presidente de EU, Donald Trump (“Pena Nieto Congratulates the new President of the U.S.:Donald Trump”) Excelsior, January 20, 2017].

He additionally tweeted:

“We will establish a respectful dialogue with the government of President Donald Trump, to the benefit of Mexico”.

And:

“The sovereignty, national interest and protection of the Mexicans will guide the relationship with the new government of the United States.”

Very reasonable from a Mexican point of view. And, equally, defending America’s national interest and sovereignty is what we expect from President Trump.

Upcoming Visits

On January 4th, Mexican President Pena Nieto named a new Foreign Minister, Luis Videgaray.

Because of his importance, he warrants close examination. He has a PhD. in Economics from MIT and is a longtime ally of Pena Nieto. He ran Pena Nieto’s presidential campaign in 2012 and implemented some of the president’s reforms. He was referred to by one analyst as “the power behind the throne.”

Now, after several months in the political wilderness, Videgaray is back in the administration with a beard and serving as Foreign Minister!

Videgaray, along with Economics Minister Ildefonso Guajardo, is scheduled to visit Washington, D.C. this week to meet Reince Priebus (Chief of Staff), Jared Kushner, Stephen Bannon, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and others. Pena Nieto will meet with Trump in the White House on January 31st.

For example, Brooklyn resident Norberta Diaz says that as she watched Trump’s speech, “I felt like an intruder…I listened with sadness. It was a very different speech from that of Obama, who opened the doors.”

Is it possible she feels like an intruder because she is an intruder?

Colombian-born Natalia Jaramillo, now a U.S. citizen residing in Miami, had to stop watching the address as it gave her so much fear:

It terrified me to hear a leader speaking that way. It scares me because I feel that that idea of a nation does not include me. [Trump] is promising a patriotism and a nationalism for ‘whites’ that is not going to unite a country but divide it more.

But why do these immigrants feel they aren’t part of Trump’s nation? Is it Trump’s fault—or did they feel that way already, with Trump just forcing them to take sides?

Then there was this very telling comment by Mexican Alma Reyes (citizenship status not specified), who says this talk about deporting illegal aliens makes her feel uneasy (hmm):

She said:

“What scares me the most is that [Trump] said he would give jobs to Americans. So he thinks we take them.”

You said it!

Expats Vs. Trump

An Expatriate ("expat") is a person who resides outside his country of citizenship. I myself was an expatriate for 15 years in Mexico.

There are many reports of American expatriates participating in anti-Trump protests in Mexico. But how, when Mexico does not permit foreigners to participate in demonstrations?

Apparently they made an exception in the cases of anti-Trump protests.

Three examples:

In the Mexico City protest at the U.S. Embassy, “Some Americans also joined the demonstration, expressing their worry that Trump would comply with all the threats that he had hurled in his campaign” [Consideran a Trump como una amenaza (“They consider Trump as a Threat”), El Siglo de Torreón, January 21, 2017].

The next day, as part of the international "Women’s March," there was a protest in Mexico City, “some thousand persons—the majority Americans—protested with music and wigs in Mexico City.” This group of mostly American protestors even made its way to the U.S. Embassy, “where another 500 persons were already protesting…” (Mujeres, en pie de lucha contra Trump, [“Women on foot to fight against Trump,” Excelsior, January 22, 2017. Emphasis added).

In the northwestern state of Sonora, expatriate American retirees took to the streets to lambast Trump: “Some 100 American (literally United Statesean) citizens who reside in the municipality of Alamos, in the south of Sonora, protested against the migratory policy announced by the President Donald Trump and rejected the construction of a wall on the border between Mexico and the United States” [Estadunidenses se manifiestan contra Trump en Álamos, Sonora (“United Stateseans Demonstrate Against Trump in Alamos, Sonora”), by Daniel Sanchez Dorame, January 21, 2017).

A Mexican Technical Innovation!—Blocking Trump’s Picture On Facebook

For those who just can’t stand to see the face of Donald Trump on Facebook, a Mexican engineer has found a solution—block it out. From Dinero en Imagen [“Money in Image”)]:

The Mexican Sebastian Morales, engineer, artist and investigator residing in New York, created a tool on Chrome that can make Trump’s face “disappear” from your Facebook timeline...Each time a text bears the word Trump, the tool will replace the image that accompanies the post with a bar of colors.

Why was some such thing was created? Morales in his description of Chrome explains that “We should have the option of seeing or not seeing the trash that surrounds us.”

The article shows an example and even includes a place for the reader to obtain the blocking tool himself.

American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008 after many years residing in Mexico. Allan's wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archivedhere; his Mexidata.info articles are archivedhere ; his News With Views columns are archivedhere; and his website is here.